Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. (2 Timothy 4:2-5 KJV)

In Western Christian theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. It is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries. In the Catholic Church and many Anglican churches, the next day specifically commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven. Christians who celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day do so in the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual bond between those in purgatory (the ‘Church Suffering‘), those in heaven (the ‘church triumphant‘), and the living (the ‘church militant‘). Other Christian traditions define, remember and respond to the saints in different ways; for example, in the Methodist Church, the word “saints” refers to all Christians and therefore, on All Saint’s Day, the Church Universal, as well as the deceased members of a local congregation, are honoured and remembered.

Samhain is a Gaelicharvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularized as the “Celtic New Year” from the late 19th century, following Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer. The date of Samhain was later associated with the CatholicAll Saints’ Day (and later All Souls’ Day) from at least the 8th century, and both the Gaelic and the Catholic liturgical festival have influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween.

The medieval Goidelic festival of Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the “lighter half” of the year and beginning of the “darker half”. It was celebrated over the course of several days and had some elements of a Festival of the Dead.Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.